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The question constantly comes up. It is a sticking point and everyone has a different answer for new C and C++ developers. There was even a stop-motion animation created once upon a time to explain them (Pointer Fun with Binky). They are just one of the reasons that a lot of developers are cutting their teeth, so to speak, on other programming languages (but there are other reasons as well).

C/C++ pointers.

I've given a lot of thought over the years on the best method to explain C/C++ pointers in a way that can be more universally understood. Even if the programming language you are using doesn't have pointers, understanding pointers helps gain an understanding of how the underlying hardware operates behind the scenes to execute code. In other words, they are still relevant to you. A lot of what I'm going to say involves gross oversimplifications of several concepts, but the goal is to understand how pointers work as succinctly as possible.